Exhibitor Profile:
Wilk Designs
some time. I started in fine arts and studied jewellery
making during my time at NSCAD. After I entered the
workforce, I found employment at a little jewellery
and watch repair shop. It’s there that I discovered
watchmaking and I haven’t looked back since. It’s
a great medium to combine all of my skills and
interests.

much encouragement, I began exploring selling my
wares online and in local shops. Blogging was a big
part of Knotted Nest in the beginning and having the
support of online friends was really encouraging.

What inspires you about found objects and
recycled materials?

Name: Kristen Wulff
Neighbourhood: Upper Beaches
Company: Knotted Nest, knottednest.com
Market Dates: May 25
Kristen Wulff’s Knotted Nest is home to repurposed
housewares and accessories. Every item is lovingly
handmade with an attention to detail and an
enthusiasm for recycling. Products include coasters,
wallets, napkins and embroidered artworks.

How did you get into handmade housewares
and accessories?
I was stuck at home recovering from surgery about
four years ago and I decided that I wanted to teach
myself to sew. My background is in fine arts,
specifically textiles, and I wanted to avoid going back
into the restaurant industry for as long as I could. I
had always made gifts for friends and family, so after

I love searching for unique fabrics wherever I
am. When I find a print or textile that I’ve never
seen before, my mind instantly thinks of ways to
incorporate it into my line. For me, being able to give
new life to items that already have a history is the
most rewarding aspect of my work. I’ve carried with
me a sense of the importance of environmental
actions since childhood, and so making a living from
repurposing materials is something I take great
pride in.

My phone tells me the time. Why is a watch
better?
I wouldn’t say that a watch is better. Actually a
mechanical watch is far less accurate than your
phone! For me personally, the purpose of a watch is
not solely for timekeeping. It’s a blend of design, art,
fashion and timekeeping. Sometimes timekeeping
really takes a backseat to the design. So I think that
a person who chooses one of my watches is really
deciding to wear it because
it’s more about style and
how it makes them feel.

What is your
studio like?
My studio
right now is in
the basement
since we are
expecting our
first child this
summer and
need a bit more
room upstairs.
It’s a good space with an entire wall of fabrics
arranged by colour. I have some of my favourite
vintage textiles hanging as inspiration and piles of
sewing on most other surfaces. Most days I listen
to CBC Radio while I work. The dream is to one day
have a bit more land and build a detached studio,
but for now I’m happy working away in my cozy
basement studio.

Name: Scott Wilk
Neighbourhood: Crossroads of the Danforth
Company: Wilk Designs, wilkdesigns.com
Market Dates: May 25, August 24, October 19
Scott’s interest metalsmithing began in London at the
Bealart program in 1996. In 1998, he was accepted
to NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design)
and graduated in 2001 with a BFA. Moving back to
Ontario in 2004, Scott decided to pursue his jewellery
aspirations full-time and discovered the world of
horology, the art and science of measuring time.

What attracted you to watchmaking?
I’ve always felt drawn to small mechanical things but
I didn’t make the connection to watchmaking for quite

What’s the process
for ordering a custom
watch?
Generally the first step in
a custom watch project
is a meeting to talk about
what you are looking for in a watch. Some people
know exactly what they want, but many people
need some guidance and information about what
the possibilities are. Depending on the scope of the
project, I may make up some sketches or computer
mock-ups of what the watch will look like. Sometimes
there are changes to be made and after you are
satisfied with the design, I proceed with handcrafting
your timepiece. During the construction process, I
also try and send progress pictures so you can see
how your watch is coming together.

Exhibitor Profile: Kirikí Press
U’s printmaking program and foster a skill set that was both hands-on and
creative.

Tell us about what you were working on in Venice!
In 2007, I was one of 25 extremely lucky OCAD U students selected to be
part of the university’s study-abroad program in Florence, Italy. I followed up
the eight-month studio program with an internship at the Peggy Guggenheim
Collection in Venice. This led to a chance encounter with the owner of the
Venice Printmaking Studio, who happened to be in need of a bookbinder. I had
taken a few bookbinding courses at OCAD U and put together some samples
of my work. He hired me on a freelance basis, and during my employment I
bound many books and portfolio boxes. I also began coordinating the artist-inresidence program and had the privilege of working with some truly amazing
printmakers from around the world.

Name: Michelle Galletta
Neighbourhood: Bloorcourt
Company: Kirikí Press, kirikipress.com
Market Dates: May 25, July 27, October 19
Michelle Galletta is an artist and embroidery enthusiast with a B.F.A. from OCAD
U. She spent three very lovely years in Venice, Italy, working as a bookbinder
and residency coordinator for a printmaking studio before returning home to
Toronto in 2012 to start Kirikí Press. She produces handcrafted embroidery kits
that pair classic stitches with contemporary illustration.

How did you get your start as an artist?
I’ve always made and loved art, but it wasn’t until I discovered printmaking
that I realized I could make a living as an artist. I was leaning towards graphic
design for a very long time, and even left my fine arts program at York
University to work as a graphic designer for a year. When I realized that life
in front of a computer was not for me, I made the decision to apply to OCAD

Your background is in printmaking but you also have a passion for
embroidery. How does your current work embrace both?
Printmaking allows me to bring my embroidery patterns to the next level. While
many ready-to-stitch patterns are iron-on, screen printing allows for much
finer detail and a soft hand. My knowledge of bookbinding and box-making
really came in handy when it came to designing my packaging, which I also
print by hand.

Your embroidery kits are designed for people to “do-it-themselves".
Why is it important to DIY?
Instead of buying just another product, DIY offers a learning experience,
a finished product, and all of the satisfaction that comes with it. While an
embroidered doll is precious in and of itself, it’s the labour of love that gives
the doll its real value. I imagine a parent stitching up a little owl or monkey
and giving their kid a gift that they made with their own hands—that’s my
satisfaction as the designer.

Exhibitor Profile: LeeAnn Janissen
all the same activity. I want to understand what’s going on, how things work
and what is the nature of what we see happening around us.
One of the key ways we understand the world is by building models. Modelling
has been at the core of my work, both in science and also in the capital
markets where I developed models for complex financial products. The act of
building a model invokes all aspects and manifestations of the original reality,
but allows you to have some control, some ability to influence reality. My art
practice has model building as its starting point.

Did you have any experience with pottery before leaving your career
to study ceramics full-time?

Name: LeeAnn Janissen, leeannjanissen.com
Neighbourhood: Bloor West Village/The Junction
Market Dates: July 27, August 24, September 28
LeeAnn Janissen is a Toronto-based ceramic artist. She began making ceramic
art full-time in 2009 after leaving her career in the capital markets. She studied
ceramics at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario where she received the Joan
Bennet Award in 2011 and the William and Mary Corcoran Craft Award in 2012.
LeeAnn has exhibited both locally and internationally, and has participated in
art fairs such as the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and the Sunnyside Beach
Juried Art Show and Sale. LeeAnn was a finalist for the 2013 NICHE Awards.
She serves on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Crafts Council and the
Mississauga Potters Guild.

This isn’t a second career for you, but a third. You started out as a
Particle Physicist, then left science for the business world, and now
you’re a potter.
I have done a lot of things, its true! From the outside it may appear to be an
eclectic collection of unrelated activities, but from my perspective, these are

I started working with clay by taking an evening hand-building pottery class
through the Toronto School Board in the late 1990s. Since then, I’ve taken
evening courses at various studios around town on and off. It had always
been a dream to take up ceramics full-time, but when I left my job on Bay
Street in 2009 I hadn’t done anything with clay for over five years. I joined
the Mississauga Potters Guild for the studio access, and found out about the
Sheridan ceramics program from other members.

Your Luna Examinations series is exceptional. What interests you
about the interplay of scale, science and art, celestial and domestic?
My work begins with the act of model building as a way of knowing the world.
In the Luna Examinations series, I selected the moon as the object because it
features so prominently in human culture. It is universal and generic, and yet
each of us has an individual, intimate experience of the moon linked to our
own memories.
I would build models of the moon in different clay bodies, and then cut them
open in different ways and display the pieces. The Luna Examinations series
of sculptures then morphed into the Luna-ware collection of functional
vessels. Whereas the sculptures were more about the act of investigation
itself, the Luna-ware series has more of a sympathetic magic aspect to it.
There is a particular charm to holding and drinking from an object that looks
like something large and far away. There is a feeling that you’ve captured some
essence of the moon.

Exhibitor Profile: Limberlina/Scarffaces
into purses and then by making lip gloss for our friends for Christmas
and so on. We were pretty much inseparable for most of high school,
taking all the same classes, joining all of the same sports teams and
going on a semester abroad in Europe together. We parted ways for our
undergrad and graduate programs but are finally back together in the
same city dreaming up crafts and adventures!

Name: Kim Keitner & Laura Hopf
Neighbourhood: The Annex (Kim); Little Portugal (Laura)
Company: Limberlina, limberlina.com;
Scarffaces scarffaces.com
Market Dates: Limberlina: July 27, August 24, September 28;
Scarffaces: September 28, October 19
Laura and Kim have been best friends since they were twelve and
have been making and crafting together ever since. Laura started
her line of knitwear, Scarffaces, in 2011 while Kim started her line of
illustrations, Butter Together, in 2012. They joined forces in 2013 with
a goal of making DIY projects easy and accessible. As Limberlina, they
provide kits that include everything you need to make a beautiful
handmade product, but if DIY isn’t your thing they also sell the finished
version as well!
Which came first, friendship or craft?
Friendship! Friendship is always #1. We started crafting together
pretty soon after becoming friends, first by up-cycling old khakis

What’s your process for working together?
We come up with DIY ideas that we would want to do ourselves,
sometimes together and sometimes separately. We set aside a day
at least once a month to work on our respective projects together
and we help each other with taking photos, setting everything up and
getting supplies. After that, we write up our tutorials and add them to
our website! We talk to each other online, through texts, or over the
phone throughout the day so we’re constantly bouncing ideas off each
another.
Why is DIY important to you?
We really love being able to make things ourselves and we want to
help other people do it as well. People always seem really impressed
by what we make but we want to send the message that DIYing is easy
and anyone can do it with the right tools, supplies and tutorials!
We created our kits to take a lot of the hassle out of DIYing; often the
biggest obstacle is finding the materials, running around to different
stores, and figuring out how much of everything to get without
spending a fortune. All of our kits come with three variations of a craft
so that you can make them all yourself or share them with friends!
We think crafting is a very social activity and that’s why we also do DIY
events. It’s so fun to get together with friends to craft, catch-up, relax,
have fun and making something you’re excited about!

Exhibitor Profile: Dara Gold
What’s your process for your tea stain illustrations? Are the stains
random?
Generally speaking, the tea illustrations and paintings start totally
randomly. I throw tea at paper and canvases until they make a pleasing
abstract shape. I work with orange pekoe (brown), cranberry (pink, blue
and green) and raspberry thriller (black, red and purple) tea. Then I stare
at it a long time and the image just pops out at me. On paper, I freehand
the illustration with pen and ink. On canvases, I add house paint and
paper, then freehand the illustration with ink on top. I usually have no
clue what an image is going to be until well after the tea has dried.

Name: Dara Gold, daragold.ca
Neighbourhood: The Danforth
Market Dates: July 27, September 28, October 19
Dara Gold is an artist and illustrator from Toronto. During the day she
creates artwork for video games, websites and new media projects. At
night, she draws and paints with tea.
How did you become an illustrator?
I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember and have always
wanted to be an artist. In elementary and middle school, whenever
someone needed art I volunteered: I drew pictures for yearbooks and
school projects and made posters and sets for plays. In university, I
became the lead illustrator for the college paper for a few years and
continued to work with them when they moved online. That’s pretty
much been the theme of my career so far. I’m always looking for
opportunities to work with interesting people and neat projects. When
you’re tenacious enough, you can find work, and when you love what
you do, work starts to find you.

Sometimes I will have an idea for a series of images, and I plan them out
in my head. But I still start with the tea stain, and you can only guide it
so much. So even though I know where I want to end up, the path to get
there is still pretty abstract.
Tell us about your “Custom Mini Teas" that you will be creating at the
market.
I have a binder full of 4"x6" tea stains. The stains are “blanks"—no
illustration, just the stain. A customer can flip through the binder and
select whichever stain appeals to them the most and I’ll draw on it for
them while they wait. Custom Mini Teas cost $10 and are ready to take
home in 10-15 minutes.
I have one rule with the mini teas. I am happy to draw whatever
someone wants me to draw (I’ve drawn everything from Chewbacca
to on-the-spot pet portraits). If someone wants me to draw a specific
image I need to pick out the tea stain. It can be very difficult to force an
image onto an abstract shape, so I need to find one that works. If the
customer picks the tea stain then they get a totally random surprise!